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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Daring Bakers: Pizza Tossing Time!

It seems to have been a while since I started off a Daring Bakers post with this, but: I cheated. Yes, I sure did. By not making the dough. Instead, I sneakingly suggested to Dagmar that we'd make the pizza together one sunny Sunday afternoon, and she happily agreed. And made the dough. So, no real comments on how it came together, but it was definitely nice to work with and easy enough to shape.

Not to toss though. We tossed, and tossed, in order to get good photos but it did absolutely nothing for the pizza bases that had to be re-shaped from scratch after the tossing. And no, it did not get easier as we went along.

We topped our pizzas with all kinds of goodies - salami, smoked ham, mozzarella, tomato sauce, arugula, fresh mushrooms, red onion... delicious! And we baked them on our iPinium oven sheets - they work much as baking stones, since they have superior heat retention. It worked very nicely to give a nice, crusty base.

So, challengewise - this wasn't the tastiest pizza crust I've tried, and I think I'll be sticking with my Jamie Oliver recipe until I find a super-good one, but it was perfectly fine. And while not extremely challenging, pizza is not something I make a lot either, so it was fun! And it was *very* much fun to share the challenge with Dagmar! For more fun photos, and her post, go here!

That's a great pizza tossing picture. It seems like a lot of people had trouble with the tossing-- my first one was a total mess but the second one came came out pretty well. I didn't really end up tossing it though- more just bouncing it on top of my knuckles and stretching it out.

I too love your kitchen!! So bright, so airy..I can't wait to have nice kitchen one day. :)

This is my first challenge, and between posting my own post and lurking around other Daring Bakers - I spent more time in looking and 'ooohh-ing' on other Daring Bakers posts!! Your pizza looks soo delicious!

You guys don't know what *real* pizza is like. Someone on the other side of the pond should try thin-crust, brick-oven (high-heat) pizza. In my town (New Haven, Connecticut, US) we have had the pizza of Neapolitans who immigrated at the early part of the 20th century. I don't think they make it like this in Naples any more either.

The following blog documents two restaurants that have been in existence for decades, Pepe's and Sally's. These are the most famous, though there are a number of places here that make this kind of pizza. No one ever makes it at home, you can't make it better then they do!

p.s. We are on the sound here. I'm not sure whether it was the idea of the Neapolitan immigrants or someone else, but as you will see in the blog articles, one of the favorite specialties is a white clam pie. This is made without tomato sauce. Some recipes use olive oil, others use butter, some people want mozzarella, but most purists don't want cheese with clams. Of course, lots of chopped garlic is standard.

Well the picture of the toss you have on the blog is terrific. I'm having guest over, and we're going to all toss pizza tonight. I hope it doesn't all end up on the floor. My husband suggested that I have a second batch of dough ready, just in case. Great looking pizza.

Just found your blog after searching for an espresso caramel recipe which by the way looks awesome and expertly wrapped. Also saw that you are in Daring Baker's so wanted to say that you and Dagmar did a fabulous job of tossing the dough and the finished pizzas look great.